Finally the first one of many Full Season Reviews! And it’s Hyperdimension Neptunia!

So this is going to be something that’s going to go every other month starting this month. Please expect the next one in October!

So it’s time to get into the review!

So this anime is the animation of the video game series, Hyperdimension Neptunia. This anime actually adapts the third game in the series, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory.

I have to say that I absolute love this anime and it’s getting me into the games. Each character is a representation of a gaming console or a gaming company. There’s a lot of funny references to video games and the fact that they are consoles.

This is definitely one of those games where a best girl will naturally come up.

I’ll get to that later.

Let’s get down to the main review.

Art

The art is consistant and beautiful. The transformations are well done and have a good digital theme to them. Also the countries are very beautiful and varied. Lowee is snowy. Leanbox is summery and so on.

Story

The story is very similar to Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory except in reverse. Plutia and Peashy are thrown into Neptune’s world instead of the reverse.

I have to say that I liked it. The story is funny with all of its references and characters. You don’t actually need to been there during the 7th generation console war to get all of the jokes. Even then a lot of them hit the mark without being completely into video games.

Characters

Note: I’ll be going over the main characters and what they represent too

Neptune

The main character of Hyperdimension Neptunia, CPU of Planeptune and the representative of Sega Neptune. As Neptune she’s absolutely hilarious and one of the funniest members of the cast. However she can also be the most caring member of the cast seeing how far she goes for Peashy.

Nepgear

Neptune’s younger sister, CPU candidate of Planeptune, and the representative of Sega Game Gear. Nepgear is bit more mature than Neptune but not by much. She’s just a bit ditzy but still serious about her job and her friends. I definitely like her a lot.

Noire

CPU of Lastation and the representative of the Playstation 3. Got to love this little tsundere. I practically grew up with playing with her. She’s more of a balanced tsundere. She’s still standoffish but also cares about her friends a lot which is good.

Uni

CPU Candidate of Lastation and the representative of the Playstation Portable. Uni’s a lot like her sister but a bit more approachable. She’s not really as standoffish as Noire but still tsundere like. I think she’s a bit more funny than Noire is.

Blanc

The CPU of Lowee and the representative of the Wii. Blanc is a kuudere with a massive temper. How do you set her off? Talk about her flat chest! She’s hilarious when you pair her up with Vert.

Rom and Ram

The CPU Candidates of Lowee and the representative of the Nintendo DS.

Note: Both of them share it because they, as twins, represent the DS’s twin screens

Blanc and her sisters couldn’t be more different if they tried. It’s kinda funny to see the reactions between the three of them. However never doubt they love each other.

Vert

The CPU of Leanbox and the representative of the Xbox 360. Vert is literally a mass of references. She’s the stereotype that the Japanese have about Americans(big boobs and blond with blue eyes). She has an assistant named Setag(reverse the letters and it spells Gates), and she plays a lot of first person shooters(isn’t that all Xbox puts out lately…)

Plutia

The Ultradimension CPU of Planeptune and the representative of the Sega Genesis. You’ve got to love Plutia. She’s the representation of my first console, she’s cute in her goddess form, and she’s voiced by Kana Hanazawa in Japanese and Cherami Leigh in English.

Peashy

The newly created CPU of Eden and the representative of PC Gaming and Gaming Computers. She’s just adorable and she can pretty much be friends with anyone.

IF

A member of the Guild and the representative of one of the game’s creators, Idea Factory. It’s safe to say that IF is the glue that keeps Planeptune going alongside Nepgear. If IF(hahahaha that’s a good one) wasn’t there, Neptune would be even more of a slacker and that’s saying something.

Compa

A nurse in training and the representative of the game’s other creators, Compile Heart. Compa reminds me of Mikuru Asahina in a way. She’s a cute moe blob that everyone likes in someway. Well at least she can fight.

References

There’s a lot of video game references in the series and the games. Let me take the opportunity to show a few:

Sega

Plutia’s sadism as Iris Heart is a reference to how aggressive Sega was to Nintendo after the Genesis was released. Oddly Plutia shows no hostility to Blanc, Rom, or Ram.

When Plutia attacks Afoire(who is a reference to the R4 card which allows for the user to copy saves and play roms illegaly) it is a reference to Sega’s very hostile attitude towards piracy.

Playstation

Noire claims to be able to do everthing which is a reference to Playstation’s old slogan for the Playstation

The version of Noire from Plutia’s world is the representative of the Playstation 1. She wears more grey like the original Playstation’s colors.

Her name is Noire which means black, the default color of all Playstation products after the Playstation 1(I said default! I know there’s a freaking white PS4!)

Uni’s name is a reference to the PSP’s games which are called Universal Media Discs(UMDs)

Uni’s measurements shrink when she goes into HDD form which is a reference to how each installment of the PSP gradually got smaller and lighter.

Uni has a pet bandicoot in the anime which is a reference to the Crash Bandicoot games which used to be a Playstation Exclusive.

Nintendo

The version of Blanc from Plutia’s world is the representative of the Nintendo Famicom. She wears a combination of red and white like the original Japanese model.

In one of her official images, Blanc wears a large green hat called the Green Dot which is a reference to the 1-up mushroom in the Super Mario Bros. series.

Blanc being a big fan of Falcom(representative of the Falcom corp) is a reference to the fact that most of the Falcom games appeared on Nintendo consoles until the Nintendo 64 era.

Blanc is referred as the oldest of all the goddesses which is a reference to Nintendo being the oldest gaming company in existence, being founded in 1889. The tassels on her sleeves are a further reference to this which are large Hanufuda cards which Nintendo made before switching to video games.

In game her high defense and HP reference how it is nearly impossible to destroy a Nintendo console…bar any of the DS line. Those darn hinges!

Rom and Ram are influenced by Nana and Popo from the Ice Climbers video games.

Microsoft

The version of Vert from Plutia’s world is the representative of the Xbox. She wears a combination of green and black like the colors of the original Xbox.

In the first game, Vert had a problem with getting too hot which is a reference to the Xbox 360’s tendency to overheat.

Vert is the only goddess not to have a CPU candidate which is a reference to how Microsoft lacks a handheld console.

Vert’s typical American look(by the Japanese thoughts) of blond hair, blue eyes, and well endowed is a reference to Microsoft is an American company.

PC Gaming

Peashy is originally from Plutia’s world which is suspected to be the Gameindustri in 1989. Her childlike form is a reference to how gaming computers were weaker during that time period. Her goddess form is a reference to the current power of gaming computers.

Idea Factory and Compile Heart

IF’s protectiveness of Compa is a reference to the fact that Idea Factory is the parent company to Compile Heart.

Atari

Rei Ryghts is the representative of the Atari gaming consoles. They were very great company before the Great Video Game Crash of 1983 which was saved by Nintendo’s NES. Oddly Rei does not attack Blanc specifically.

During the anime, a large amount of her nation, Tari, was found under Planeptune and is unearthed. This is a reference to how after their downfall Atari buried millions of useless Atari games in the New Mexico desert in 1983 and were later found in April 2014.

Final Verdict

I’m giving Hyperdimension Neptunia the Animation a 8/10. It’s a good anime but I suppose it’s a better anime if you’ve played the games or can understand all the references. Since I’m somewhat into video games and video game culture, I was on the floor laughing during some of the jokes.

I definitely loved Rei Ryghts. She’s the beginning of freaking video games in embodied! She was also cute in her human form. Batshit insane as a goddess though.

So that’s all I’ve got. You can expect the next review in October. Just know if I don’t get any comments, I’ll choose my own series to review for October.

So until the next Full Season Review,
Later Days
You can ask me as many questions as you want on Ask.fm and you can follow me on Twitter to know when my new reviews are coming out. You’ll know when stuff comes out right when it does! 🙂

Also check out my right hand man, SkyCorps on AnimeWithSky where I’m also a writer. We’ve got some good reviews from all the writers, Speculations, Light Novel Reviews, and Manga Chapters Reviews. What are you waiting for? Come and check us out! You won’t regret it!

Also I decided to affiliate with Play-Asia.

Why? Because they sell Google Play and iTunes cards! If you’re playing Love Live and buying your Love Gems, you can get your Google Play and iTunes credit here:

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

devenluca

Hey everyone, my name is Deven Luca. I'm an friend of SkyCorps since he started his blog and now we're working together.I'm a co-writer here at Anime Corps.
I'm a huge lover of the Nasu-verse, Love Live,Love Live School Idol Festival and Date A Live. Expect a lot of posts about them!
So that's enough from me. Make sure to let the reviews speak for themselves. Later!

7 thoughts on “Full Season Review: Hyperdimension Neptunia the Animation”

I remember watching it when it was airing back in 2013. In all honest it is still one of the few game based anime series that I have completed. Recently with the dub released, and even more so with the Steam Summer sale and people playing the game and posting pictures on twitter. I have had the urge to get the game, even though I am 50% sure it will work on my computer, and rewatch the anime now that it has a dub out. I might check it out again since I did like the series, and did like how the characters were. Did not realize Blanc was meant to be Nintendo all this time, I thought it was supposed to be PC, but with the references you pointed out it makes sense now.

I was kinda hesitant watching this anime, because I played the first Neptunia game, and while I absolutely loved the concept and the characters, the game in itself didn’t left me good memories. So I was not sure if the anime series was worth a shot. But seeing your review, I think I’ll finally get to watch it! ^-^